Ansiedade e (in)capacidade funcional em idosos: inter-relações e perspectivas.

Abstract

To estimate the occurrence of anxiety in the elderly, from the Anxiety Inventory Geriatric (GAI); to compare sociodemographic data with the GAI score; and investigate the association between the pattern of functional disability and geriatric anxiety. Method: study cross-sectional and analytical carried out in Cuité, Paraíba, Brazil with 233 elderly people linked to Family Health Strategy and randomly selected. The data were collected through of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0 instruments and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), whose analysis was supported by statistics descriptive and bivariate, considering significance when p-value < 0.05. Results: 48.1% of the elderly had some level of self-reported anxiety (mild/moderate or severe), with significant difference for the group of women in the comparison of the variable sex (p-value = 0.002). It was identified that severe anxiety and the pattern of severe disability are associated (p-value < 0.001) with the finding of a positive correlation between both (p-value < 0.001; ρ =0.306), inferring the conditions worsen in the same direction. Conclusion: there was a expressive occurrence of anxiety, with greater intensity in elderly women and severity interrelated to the impairment of the standard of functional capacity. It is suggested to incorporation of specialized practices in the field of gerontogeriatric nursing, promoting preventive actions against anxiety and disabilities.